Zilker Elementary Art Class

Zilker Elementary Art Class

Thursday, February 20, 2014

3rd Grade Keith Haring Group Project and Individual Collages

 Keith Haring is one of my favorite all-time artists.  Most of his artwork is kid friendly, and students love his kinetic figures.
We looked at many of his paintings in art class and talked about his use of movement.  We then learned about gesture drawings and proportion, and students drew several quick gesture drawings of me posing in different positions.  Students then traced around these gesture drawings to make them look more like a Haring figure.  They carefully cut out their best, and then traced that one onto construction paper.  The color scheme was complementary colors, and students randomly chose a complementary set.  Here students are cutting carefully around the figure to get that black edging.
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They turn out so energetic and colorful, and they look amazing all together.  Some classes' artwork will be displayed in April for Zilker's School-wide Art Show.


We also worked on a bigger group drawing that was displayed on February 6 at Family Night.  This is what the two panels looked like:

Thursday, February 13, 2014

1st & 2nd Grade Eric Carle Collages


We are learning about the phenomenal artist and author Eric Carle in second and first grade art class! We read some of his books, including "Mister Seahorse," "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," and "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" We discussed how Eric Carle created his own papers by painting them and scratching textures into the wet paint.  After the papers dried, he would then cut them out to create the beautiful animals in his books.
Students painted their papers first.  This was a FUN day!  Students rotated around the table and painted six or seven different colors onto their construction paper.  Before the paint dried, students used tools to scratch lines into the wet paint, just like Eric Carle.
The papers were dry for the next class, and students traced shapes on the back to create their animals, as well as added fun things such as sequins, pompoms, glitter, and oil pastel details.  Some classes made butterflies:




Other classes created tropical birds:

 And still other classes made seahorses.  They are all so lovely!  Look for first grade classes' artwork to be displayed in April for the School-wide Art Show!







Tuesday, February 4, 2014

5th Grade Recycled Art Group Project


Fifth Grade Students' Group Art Project was inspired by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. We looked especially close at these artworks of his:


Fifth Grade students then all participated in painting, gathering recycled materials like plastic bottle caps and aluminum can tabs, sorting materials, or gluing materials to the canvas. Here is their work in progress:



 We still have work to do but....fingers crossed...we are trying to have it finished by Thursday!   Come see it Thursday night at Family Night at Zilker!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Kinder and First Grade Circle Paintings

 Continuing our grade level projects, Kinder and First Grade classes worked together to create some amazing cooperative paintings. Wassily Kandinsky was our artist inspiration. We started with basic shapes and painted right onto the large sheets of paper.  After the shapes covered the paper, students connected the shapes with different kinds of lines.


 Students then worked together to add lots of vibrant color.  These are beautiful - please come see them in person on Thursday February 6th at Zilker Family Night!  Our school will be open to visitors from 5:30 - 8 pm....hope to see you there!